Kitchen / Garden / Sanctuary - Urban Homesteading to Nourish Body + Spirit
Stuck without a heating pad? No problem! Gather one or two flat rocks (flagstone in this case) and simmer them in water on the stove (or pop them into the oven). When thoroughly hot, remove with tongs and wrap in a couple towels. Use both rocks at once, or keep one in the water to exchange when the first one cools down. You can’t exactly wrap a rock around your body the way you can a heating pad, but it’s a perfectly good do-fer solution!
We’ve discovered a great tool!
Our shower has been draining very poorly lately. We don’t like Draino because of how very toxic it is, and so F. had the brilliant idea to buy a flexible grabber from the local auto parts store to shove down the drain and grab the gunk. It was $7.50, and took care of the problem in about 10 seconds! No chemicals involved, and the water drains like a charm now!
Look at the gross clog I pulled out!!!
Grossest thing I've encountered in a long time.
Since we always keep a mesh screen over our drain, I’m afraid some of that is from previous tenants — which is something I am NOT going to think about, so let’s move on, shall we…
*****
Here’s the flexible grabber tool. Sort of like a syringe, you push down on the top, and the little claw comes out the bottom. Of course we tested it first on each other’s fingers…and it has quite a grip!
Flexible grabber claw tool
*****
Oh and here’s the screen we keep over the drain — an essential preventive measure! We also have one in the kitchen since we don’t have a garbage disposal.
I’ve heard of other preventive methods to keep your drains clear, like using baking soda and vinegar, and also pouring boiling water down the drain each day. Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to share?
I concocted this salad a couple days ago and have enjoyed it for lunch each day since! I just love the taste of it, and the macadamia oil really makes it special.
I wouldn’t normally have macadamia oil on hand since I’m not that gourmet, but I bought it several months ago for making mayonnaise. I’d read that it’s a “good neutral oil” for mayo, except in my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth! It has a prominent macadamia flavor which I really didn’t like in the mayonnaise, but in this salad it really shines.
Lettuce
Cilantro (I love cilantro so I put about 2/3 lettuce and 1/3 cilantro in my salad)
Mandarin orange, fresh, sliced (click here for a good way to slice it)
Avocado chunks
Toasted nuts (macadamias, pecans, almonds, or other)
Macadamia nut oil
Fresh lemon juice
Salt & Freshly ground pepper to taste
Chop the lettuce and cilantro into small pieces and add the mandarin slices, avocado chunks, and toasted nuts. Drizzle fresh lemon juice and macadamia oil over the salad, in approximately equal amounts or to taste. Shake salt & cracked pepper over the salad. Toss and eat immediately with a spoon!
(Tip: If the lettuce and toppings are in small enough pieces, it’s much easier to eat a salad with a spoon than with a fork.)
I was inspired today by this post about raw vegetable juices over at Wooly Moss Roots. I’ve never been into juicing because separating the fiber from the juice just doesn’t seem natural, and it’s not the ideal way to consume vegetables according to what I’ve read. But then I’ve also read that as long as juicing is used in addition to your regular consumption of fruits and vegetables, it can actually be a very good way to boost your intake of vitamins and minerals. I can certainly see both sides of the story.
We actually have a juicer already (it came with my Hubby), so today I decided to go for it. I used some kitchen scraps that would’ve otherwise gotten tossed (cilantro and parsley stems, a mandarin orange with very tough membranes, and spent beet chunks from making beet kvass), as well as a carrot and some celery. It turned out pretty well! I was especially thrilled to be juicing the last drops of lacto-fermented, enzyme-rich goodness out of those beets! (I’ll share my beet kvass recipe soon. We love beet kvass in this household!)
Remembering that all those vitamins and minerals would probably need some fat in order to be absorbed properly, I added some grassfed whipping cream in a ratio of about 3 or 4 parts juice to 1 part cream.
OH YEA.
The cream was the key. Better nutrient absorption, better taste!
I even felt a sort of…uplift…after drinking this raw veggie juice. And I loved how it was such a clean, light way to start the day!
What’s your opinion about juicing? If you juice, what are your favorite veggie combos?
Pretty layers of juice!
I’ve rediscovered oranges after years of passing them by! I never liked peeling them, never liked the pithy white part or chewing forever on the membrane that covered each segment. Never liked juice dribbling off my elbows as I ate them, or the sticky fingers at the end.
Well, it turns out I’d been doing them wrong.
And when you do them right, they’re like a different fruit — easy to eat, juicy, and refreshing! And in January, refreshing is precisely the taste I’m after.
So…
Cut off the north and south poles.
Slice off the rind in strips from top to bottom.
Cut the orange into rounds, latitudinally (like the equator).
Slice the rounds into wedges.
Sprinkle with cinnamon if you like, and eat with a fork.
Welcome to The Herbangardener! This site is dedicated to nourishing the body + spirit, backyard organic gardening, traditional foodways, and homesteading in the heart of the city. Do come along and join me!
"There's nothing more pleasurable than making things by hand, and nothing more beautiful than handmade things."
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
- Theodore Roosevelt
"Only after the last tree has been cut down; only after the last fish has been caught; only after the last river has been poisoned; only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten."
- Cree Nation Tribal Prophecy
© 2024 The Herbangardener
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
